Again he stood at the gate as she climbed the hill, and when once more, he watched her go into the lighted hall and close the door behind her, he thought that the night looked darker and more dreary than before.
[CHAPTER IX]
A FINISHED CHAPTER
CAPTAIN FORTESCUE was up early the following morning, and set off in good time for the morning train.
On his way to Keswick, he passed Louis Verner in Borrowdale, and stopped the carriage to speak to him. Louis told him that he had tried to get through the valley the day before, but had found the road quite impassable. He said he was on his way to Fernbank to take Mrs. Douglas the "Standard."
The journey was a cold one, and the Captain was not sorry to reach Sheffield. He had wired the time of his arrival to Elkington, and he found a bright fire in the library, and drawing his chair near it, he opened the pile of letters which had arrived during his absence from home.
Most of these were bills of his father's, but he came to one in a lady's handwriting and with a coronet on the envelope. He opened it, and found that it was a very kind note from Lady Earlswood, telling him that she had seen in the "Times" the notice of his father's death, and that she wished to express her deep sympathy with him in his bereavement. She also wished to invite him to come to Grantley Castle on his way back to Aldershot. The house-party had broken up, but Evelyn was still at home, and they would all be delighted to see him for as long as it was possible for him to stay.
He sat down after dinner to write an answer to this letter, in which he thanked Lady Earlswood for her kindness, but at the same time politely declined her invitation.
He had finished this letter, and was putting it in the envelope which he had addressed, when he suddenly changed his mind, tore up what he had written, and wrote another letter. He would go to see them, and would explain his altered position; it would be better so, and if they chose to drop his acquaintance after they knew all, they could do so. Berington, he thought, would always remain his friend, at least he hoped so; but he was not so sure what Lady Earlswood's view of the subject might be. She was a thorough woman of the world, and might not care to have him at her house when she knew how greatly his prospects had altered.
In a week's time, Kenneth had wound up his father's affairs, as far as it was possible for him to do so, had dismissed the servants and taken an affectionate farewell of the old butler, and had started on his journey to Grantley Castle. As he stepped that afternoon into the brougham waiting for him at the station, he felt as if he were beginning to read the very last page of the first volume of his life.